Maximum Wage! How much CEOs earn an hour

McDonald's said on Wednesday that it's raising pay for workers at its company-owned U.S. restaurants, making it the latest employer to sweeten worker incentives in an improving economy.(Photo: Amy Sancetta, AP)

Getting paid $10-an-hour is a welcome lift for Walmart (WMT) and McDonald's (MCD) workers. But compare that with what the average restaurant and retail CEOs earn.

The 13 CEOs of a group of well-known retailers and restaurants haul in an average $5,859 an hour according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. Putting that another way: It would take an employee making $10 a hour a more than two months working each day to earn as much as the average CEO in the industry makes in a single hour. The analysis assumes a 40-hour-a-week schedule and uses total reported pay by the companies in the most recent proxy statements, which for some companies is 2014, but for some others is still 2013.

CEO pay will be on top of investors' minds this week as more proxy statements pour in from companies. These documents show investors how much they're paying the top management. CEO pay is an annual source of angst for investors who, on one hand, are willing to pay managers whatever it takes to get good results, but at the same time can't help but puzzle over the seemingly non-stop march of CEO pay higher.

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This year stands to be even more charged as there's pressure for restaurants and retailers to boost wages to hourly employees. Rising hourly pay at Walmart, McDonald's and Target (TGT) – all announced this year – stand to drive a critical cost for all these companies higher. The raises also draw greater attention to pay disparity. Neither Target nor McDonald's CEOs' pay were included because their current CEOs haven't served a full year yet.

It's still early in the proxy season – and many companies haven't reported CEO pay for 2014, yet. Walmart, for instance, hasn't reported fiscal 2015 pay yet (so fiscal 2014 pay through January 2014 was included in this analysis).

No one expects a line cook or a retail clerk to earn as much as the CEO. And it's quite possible CEOs put in more than 40 hours a week (statistics on a 60-hour workweek are also included in the chart below). But the attention to rising wages will certainly again turn a spotlight on how much the people at the top of these companies are earning.

The biggest CEO payout – by far – goes to the co-CEOs of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG). Montgomery Moran and Steven Ells, co-CEOs, pulled down more then $13,000 a hour apiece. Compare that with the average $9.15 an hour paid to Chipotle crew members, according to Glassdoor.com. It would be very difficult for investors to complain too much, though, since shares of Chipotle gained 29% in 2014 and is the fast-casual concept to beat this year.

Over at Wal-Mart, CEO Michael Duke earned what amounted to $2,704 a hour during the company's most recently reported proxy for the fiscal year ended in January 2014. That ranks him below well below average among the retailers and restaurants analyzed – which includes some fiscal 2014 and 2015 years. But even at that total pay, it would take the typical Wal-Mart worker more than a month working every day to earn as much as Duke makes in an hour. Wal-Mart typically files its annual proxy statement at the end of April.

Again, it cannot be stressed enough this analysis doesn't even remotely assert CEOs should be paid closer to $10 an hour. Few compensation experts or even investors would agree with that.

But investors are constantly looking for ways to put wages and pay into context – which will be especially true this year and especially in these industries. Looking at CEO pay per hour helps investors gain some perspective during proxy season when evaluating CEO's eye-popping pay packages.